A 15-year-old school girl shot after campaigning for girls’ education in
Pakistan, could be the victim of a conspiracy to discredit the Taliban, a
Labour peer has suggested.

Lord Ahmed said he believed Malala Yousafzai, who is awaiting reconstructive surgery at Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham, could have been shot as part of a plot to launch military action in the tribal areas of Pakistan.

The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for trying to kill the schoolgirl, who was shot in the head at point blank range, on the day of the shooting, and later said it would try again.

But Lord Ahmed told the meeting in Willesden, North London the following evening that he believed the young girl may have been shot as an excuse to launch a military assault in the Taliban stronghold of Waziristan.

He claimed similar incidents had happened in London and compared the crime to Jimmy Savile’s sex assaults, during a speech at a community meeting in North London.

In a video obtained by the Daily Telegraph, Lord Ahmed spoke in a mixture of Urdu and English.

He said he had visited Mingora, the town where Malala lived with her family in the Swat Valley and there was “no danger whatsoever” from militants.

“I don't know why it happened and one reason could possibly be there’s an operation in Waziristan [which] may possibly be on the cards or some other sort of action,” he told the meeting.

“It could have also been to build and increase public opinion and support in favour of a Waziristan operation and God forbid, she could have been caught as a tool in that game, a victim of that conspiracy, a target.”

Comparing the incident to crimes in London, he added: “One lone accident should not be generalised and this could have taken place in London and has done so in the past too.

“So we should not imply that this area is under the control of Tehreek-e-Taliban [the Pakistani Taliban] in anyways just because of this incident.

“Criminal activity can even take place inside BBC and crimes have been committed by people smoking cigars, which the police are now investigating.

“I live in East London and it is possible that somebody may have been mugged there today, showing that one incident alone is not enough to brand an entire area.”

Lord Ahmed said he had made the comments before the full facts were clear.

“If I said that, that’s what I said, although I never mentioned the government of Pakistan,” he added.

“This is not a British matter, it’s a Pakistani matter, she is a Pakistani girl and I was repeating opinions which had been expressed in the Pakistani parliament.

“On this particular day, I had no idea what happened. Three or four days later when the facts were clear I made a speech at the Pakistan Press Club condemning the Taliban.”

Malala was visited in hospital on Thursday by Gordon Brown. The former Prime Minister and current UN Special Envoy for Global Education has launched a petition “I am Malala” calling for education for girls.

Lord Ahmed, a former fishmonger and Labour councilor from Rotherham, South Yorkshire, was made a life peer in 1998.

He was temporarily suspended from the Labour Party in April after he told a business meeting in Haripur, Pakistan: “Even if I have to beg I am willing to raise and offer £10 million so that George W Bush and Tony Blair can be brought to the International Court of Justice on war crimes charges.”

Last year he hosted Maulana Fazlur Rehman, leader of the Jamiat Ulema e-Islam (JUI) party, during a visit to Britain. The party has been linked to the Taliban and is known for its anti-western rhetoric.

When this article was first posted it said that Lord Ahmed had suggested that Malala Yousafzai could have been the victim of assassins acting for the government. In fact, Lord Ahmed did not mention the government and the article has been amended accordingly.